the stories that shaped the week on r.t. a deadly disaster hits the u.s. just days before the presidential vote we'll look at how the election is now defined not just by the two main candidates but the devastation of superstorm sandy as well. in the absence of democracy greece is governed by corrupt her two characters. the greek whistleblower his message has been backed by sounds of journalists in the country claiming the government is mirroring those exposing its wrongdoings. russia claims washington is the railing peace efforts in syria by urging the opposition to continue fighting as rebels face accusations of a war crime after a brutal video comes to light. this

is r.t. live from moscow with me or even josh just as the us was about to be sucked up into a political vortex in the last week before the presidential vote the country was hit by a devastating and deadly superstorm tearing into the eastern seaboard sandy also tore away the candidates plans with rallies canceled and early voting disrupted. now takes a look at the role the swirling disastrous played on the final rush of the presidential race. she was a storm the size of europe and it might be a game changer for america's upcoming u.s. presidential election early voting was suspended as hurricane sandy ripped through the u.s. east coast monday causing eight and a half million homes and businesses to lose power president barack obama canceled campaign appearances to handle the superstorm the election will take care of itself next week right now on number one priority is to make sure that we are saving lives

national polls show the commander in chief garnered excellent marks for his response and i want to see them fema i think that was the president. flying overhead. is my man. vote for obama. possible yet the biggest praise of all came from a staunch romney supporter the cooperation for the president i did states has been outstanding the president has been all over this he deserves great credit if you think right now i give a damn about presidential politics that you don't know me looking to also score political points republican candidate mitt romney rebranded his victory rally in ohio into a relief a vent for sandy victims. they're not going to stop their political campaigning because so much useless and before the roost appears to be very close thank you but while the candidates attempt to feature sandy in their quest for votes her victims

are too busy piecing their lives back together below thirty ninth street has become known as the dark side of manhattan hundreds of thousands have been surviving without electricity heat and hot water for more than five days on staten island polling stations are no longer standing voting locations are being moved in parts of new jersey massachusetts connecticut and pennsylvania that are still dark and damaged by the storm some experts say the last minute scrambling will undoubtedly leave countless americans disenfranchised from democracy on november sixth it's destroying the legitimacy of the election potentially on the east coast early voting is been wiped out in these cities and states the voting of the elderly on election day the voting of the poor on election day the voting in of new

yorkers on election day is likely to be diminished through no fault of their own and that will affect the outcome of the election and election now defined by two men and sandy marina port ny r.t. new york. now the damage done by superstorm sandy is put at about fifty billion dollars but which have a presidential candidate proves to be successful they won't be dipping into the massive military budget to help pay for it and despite the u.s. to fan spending continuing to be the world's biggest growing numbers of observers now say this money would be better spent elsewhere there's no more important issue in america today than i have which we are spending on our military our military industrial complex that's where most of us tax dollars go most americans know that this is wasteful spending here it creates a few jobs but there's so many more jobs that would be created if that spending that governmental spending was done on a whole bunch of other things like publicly utilities like

a whole other range of areas so it's really destroying our economy in a lot of ways besides creating a lot on this is sort of violence around the world that seems like the legacy of us being involved in all these on this sort of wars over these last several years is going to be the same legacy that happened to a lot of other. empires that just they just spent themselves out of existence that happened to the soviet union in their own this is very wars that happened to you know it happened to the british you know it happened to a lot of other societies that these military industrial complex takes over nobody stops it and before you know it you know your whole country is like an overwhelming debt. now will of course continue our coverage of the u.s. elections looking at the race from different perspectives plus our team is hosting a very special event this coming monday as we're exclusively bringing you the final round of the third party candidates debate live from our washington studios. will two parties keep us politics

a one way street. or will new voices disrupt the power power of the. what is america changes. this election please guide monday november fifth on our. great was a lower arrested after publishing a list of the country's potential tax evaders was acquitted on thursday but this case was only the beginning of a string of scandals involving the country's journalists with another one remaining in custody after threatening to reveal a bailout deal fraud as artie's peter all of our reports many greeks think the government is covering its wrongdoings by attacking those who try to make it public . is the greek government using bully boy tactics to cover up its own failings that's the question that took thousands of greek journalists to the streets of athens the consulate for their outrage was the arrest of journalist cost

us vaxevanis after he revealed the names of more than two thousand wealthy and highly influential greeks accused of stuffing illicit gains in swiss bank accounts and. we published a list that other countries had in their possession and our government was aware of for two years but did nothing in the absence of democracy greece is governed by corrupt cartoon characters who deceive the public claiming they are handling tax evasion. vaxevanis was set free after the judges decided that he did not have a case to answer however his story is sent a shockwave through an already fractious society we are in a period of political muscle and political crisis social crisis is obvious we have. high rates of unemployment we have a real thing one might say weimar republic kind of unemployment levels there is poverty. there are there is more austerity coming but when it comes to reporting on

government business one senior member of the greek union of journalists told me that it's getting close to cooperate all quit some of its own members and tough restrictions have been imposed to any voice of the opposition and the media does restricting journalists some two thousand five hundred media professionals technicians included have lost their job since last year. and those who attempt to stand up to authority and expose corruption are handcuffed we see a guy to be arrested because he revealed the names obviously you can understand that people can cooperate with the state but vaxevanis told me he won't keep silent i asked him if he was given another list of names what would he do this is my job this is what journalists do they don't cover scandals they tell the truth and the elites have tried for two whole years to come for a major evidence that renders them in the system entirely unreliable to give the

arrest of a journalist while trying to reveal wrongdoing has left some greeks feeling that the democratic rights of a road here and the very birthplace of democracy peter all of us are see. as a great government keeps pushing through painful cuts the strategy is being challenged by the country's court on thursday rolled out a plan pension reforms could be unconstitutional that has worried. reportedly have to introduce and nother one hundred fifty financial changes to please its international creditors but investment adviser patrick young says it won't be fulfilled anyway alice in wonderland that fabulous children's book alice famously saying that sometimes she imagines six impossible things before breakfast well not really got the troika of lenders that there are emerging one hundred fifty impossible cuts before breakfast for the greek economy the greeks are in this mess because ultimately they spend huge amounts of money we have terrible sympathy with

the ordinary greeks on the street they are being left in a situation where they don't even have primary medical care in many cases but are we going to be able to see them manage to cut the economy or cut back in many different ways of course not they'll be lucky to manage to get twenty of these cuts to stick let alone one hundred fifty it's alarmed alice in wonderland economics. a little later the program the u.k.'s prime minister is being increasingly pushed to bid farewell to the european union. trapped between the block and a hostile west minister he may have to decide whether his country's membership of a club this porous the regular feeds. us while britain is struggling to make ends meet some are taking a back to basics in order to get things moving that much more just a couple of minutes. syrian rebels have been accused of a potential war crime after a video emerged online that the un says could be used as evidence the footage

apparently shows opposition fighters were raiding the soldiers for no longer believed to be competent the taliban are cold assets dogs before they are sprayed with bullets as they lie on the ground vested in journalist james corvette says it's a rare case that the methods of opposition forces have come into international focus . for the atrocities are definitely being committed by the rebel forces and and unfortunately that is being completely ignored because it serves of course the interests of the people who are backing the rebels and who are against assad to try to portray them in the best light possible so we've seen over the months numerous documents coming out from different organization including amnesty including including human rights watch documenting summary execution of prisoners torture the use of children in these conflict on the part of the rebels but that has been conveniently buried in the headlines time and time again and even some of the reports that didn't know some of these atrocities being committed by the rebels were almost always prefaced by reports of government atrocities and that was buried

somewhere down halfway through the article time and time again so it is of course and it has be hypocrisy that's underlying this and that's trying to manipulate public opinion certainly in the west to to be on the force and on the side of these rebel forces. russia has accused the us of encouraging the syrian opposition to carry on fighting against the government instead of urging political dialogue and it's after washington called for a complete shake up of the opposition in syria revealing plans to bring in militants fighting on the front line boy to go analyst marcus papadopoulos believes the white house is unlikely to limit itself to jazz diplomatic support for the rebels the american state department are probably looking at a more direct approach now to removing presence of sas now when i say a direct approach that doesn't necessarily mean nato intervention i think we both probably say groups of in syria the americans hasn't said so more comfortable with . this even possibly american arms intelligence information one can argue that's

possibly happen in a moment certainly the russian governments in recent days kind of looted for that but i think in the future they could be in direct more direct assistance has been given to them so it certainly will turn into a proxy war of influence by america and very possibly some other western governments states ironic because earlier this share the american ambassador to the united nations susan rice that she's the russian and the in particular the russian because the chinese government of having blood on their hands well i think she needs to look closer to home so that the people that are on in the syrian militants are actually the ones that have blood on their hands both sides in syria must people together to try and compromise to try and bring a peaceful end what is an absolutely diabolical situation. and another hot spot for violence and one of the first arab spring countries yemen is struggling to recover after the revolution on our web site r.t.

dot com we've got a full report from the streets of the yemeni capital still in ruins after more than a year of turmoil. will be back with more news and just a couple of minutes here in r.t. stay with us. what's the difference between a samurai sword and a blind guys walking stick well known if you're one of the cops in northern england an elderly blind architect with taser in the back because his cane looks like a sword that was used in a nearby crime honest mistake because swords are often tubular and use this walking sticks more and more we hear stories like this like the handcuffed youth who was shot in the back to death or the unarmed guy in

a wheelchair who got blown away by the boys in blue i understand that being in the police is rough everyone lies to you and any given day you could be shot dead so i get it when after a long police chase someone just snaps and in all honesty fire when the police might do the same thing but it takes a certain kind of person who enjoys abusing their uniform to make the helpless suffer you can't tolerate sadists or those with the pollie and complexes in the police and you know what they are that hard to spot in the shower because if you like to tase the elderly or shoot wheelchair bound people then you probably don't have much of a certain something but that's just my opinion. he is witty pulls fifteen goods. to kells. kilograms of

rice one thousand flatbreads. a live. but why is the bird in a bad mood. till the groupies want. to rule it is a done deal. i'm in sochi the u.s. city in europe the host of the twenty fourteen winter the picture. thank you. so much. thank you. doctor these. days it. makes. it so. just give me can i speak with you sir let me then use plain by sort of i don't

agree you don't agree with her everything my son is and isn't in the arena i don't know what is crap we are going to be for you fair to. be sure and your country. is the country. you cruised the moon or in hope to help you find me. you find in some of the old says war. and meet some smiles. welcome back here with our teen alice central a voting commission in ukraine has suspended counting until monday did a report of the sorters in several polls the opposition's claiming the election has been blatantly rigged by the ruling party the election has also been overshadowed by scuffles between supporters of the opposition and police across the country

clashes were also reported from the election commission in kiev polls predict the ruling party of president yet a call which will retain its lead bought lose its two thirds majority the recent results also mark the rise of the nationalist freedom party known for its anti-semite and almost. fascist statements it scored solid preliminary results of the west and landed third in kenya a city that was a bulwark against the nazi invasion in the u.s.s.r. . nationalists have also shown their presence on the streets of moscow and several other cities in russia hundreds of members of far right movements crowd of the country's capital of the day of unity voicing national slogans and we have white proverb rich on our website and you can follow it on our twitter feed as well so also do join our correspondents a common over the next hour right here on our team for the latest update. also online axes denied as the u.s.

national archive blocks any search attempts which contain a name or any keywords of the whistle blowing web site wiki leaks find out more at r.t. dot com. now the e.u. is calling on britain to make a decision on its membership of the block as its leaders begin losing patience over the u.k.'s budget squabble david cameron is facing huge opposition in parliament on how much the country should pay for being part of the club earlier this week a number of conservative m.p.'s sided with the opposition and defying the prime minister by voting for demands to cut the money britain hands over to brussels every year cameron's deputy has already warned the budget crisis may leave britain out of the block your m.p. paul matal believes frustration over bills is continually growing and the majority

of the british want to go it alone because the owner of the problem that you've got is that a status he doesn't exist in the european union and might exist in the member countries where we're asking to cut back on almost everything we have real estate is the out the money. it doesn't matter they spend more and more every single year the budget goes or a member states including states such as greece and portugal and ireland who are in serious trouble will be asked to put their hands in their pockets and give more to proselyte it's wrong. of britain actually out of the states which is in the code and see we pay so much to the tune of around fifty million pounds a day just to be members of that doesn't take into account the mega amounts of money the street tens of billions it costs us to comply with the youth and regulation so it's bad and some of the british people it's something we know happy about look at recent opinion polls eighty percent of people want a referendum so around sixty percent of people actually want to leave the european

union altogether so the people are certainly moving away if the european union was a company directors on the chief executive role be in jail but it's not it's cruel to not to know the reason why the british people want that referendum and want to leave. the waves of the financial crisis keep rolling across europe bringing man and small companies to the brink of bankruptcy but there is one man who has decided to lend a hand to those who only receive a cold shoulder from the big players and that's by founding his own bank or smith has more on that story. hello. world number one here dave fyshwick is a cheeky northern charmer he made his fortune selling minibuses in his hometown as burnley but instead of fancy holidays and expensive cars when the credit crisis hit dave wanted to give something back so he decided to open a bank says late two thousand and eight early two thousand and nine my many customers were coming along to me to get from good for their bosses as they are

doing for the last fifteen years but overnight that just stopped and the banks just stopped it led to the to the customers and i'm thinking have they done something wrong have they made a mistake of that up at the gas bill electric bill you know it's not the people that have the problem it's the banks that have the problems so i thought well. so that's what it bank on dave he says although thanks to extensive red tape he's not actually allowed to call himself a bank and he's keen to differentiate himself from banks in other ways too he offers five percent on savings and he lends that money out to his local community and no bonuses and he profits go to charity and. there just isn't a day in every town more's the pity so his isn't a model which could be rolled out nationwide in its current form but financial experts say lessons can be learnt for a healthier banking system one point is clear and this is

a point that the bank made in a way is that banking has just moved too far away from its roots and its basic need to understand. saving with. a highly leveraged. dates ultimate goal is to bring banking back to its roots no more faceless conglomerates where computers and mavericks make the decisions and the one percent pockets unimaginable bonuses instead local banks the local people run by the community to benefit the community it's not a new idea in fact it's how banking used to be before the mega bucks and mega banks stepped in and dave still taking to get some political support you have to take save us money and invest it in real productive activity to take responsibility for doing it which is not currently works in his core. crazy we're

showing the way to a better banking system which is responsible. in touch with entrepreneurship which actually could be the basis for going forward there's certainly got to be some way forwards as wave after wave of scandal. it's the financial sector banking on dave and others like him looks more and more attractive one of the sayings i use a lot of people who rob banks go to person banks who real people get paid bonuses that has to stop laura smith r.t. birmingham. and coming up we examine cases of bride statue in kurdistan that's after a short break. which

is slow often enough and knows that to ride a horse you've got to catch it first. for him it's a daily routine that just softens a force on the island of horn at the heart of. his life on an isolated farm is about blue sky green grass and his horses what they're sometimes it gets lonely here but horses have become part of me now i've fallen off so many times sometimes big bites as well it's part of my every day life. been home to it and you can bear rats likely just laugh for centuries most still live off the land cattle and fish. by coal is often called the pearl of siberia

a horn is said to be the pearl of by call it's all end of think forests. and vast stops. virtually undiscovered by tourists until some twenty years ago i was cornish quickly becoming a magnet for nature lovers and if you will sick others you're quite some way from civilization here accommodation on the island is very basic so you can forget about a t.v. or even run in water for most people a tent is the on the eruption but for those who come here it. exactly what they're looking for. and sure need to buy coal can be unique trip of a lifetime and the locals say once you've seen it can be coming back again and again.

we should not bomb iran we need to cut the budget and bring the troops home we should end the war in afghanistan. first. let's deal.

what can touch. as a skill these wedding draws to a close serene of the bride been to her parents or tearful goodbye. joint to see them for over a week after the ceremony the bride to be taken to her new husband's house and kept in a room for seven days the young wife will have to spend all that time with her husband so she can get to know him she's never even kissed him and braced him or held his hand before. what's more nor one of the guests can be certain that the groom has ever even proposed as arena or if he simply kidnapped. am. veneer a customer was also a bride once over there was no white dress or limousine at her wedding veneer or

lived with her husband for only a week then she ran away to hang herself. everyone was trying to persuade her that living together would be ok and this boy was also trying hard trying to talk rehearing into this marriage but she wanted to give it a try however it didn't work. the story shocked veneer as fellow students at the state university in a sickle. as lira had been kidnapped not from the countryside or even a dark alley way but on her way home from school in broad daylight a car stopped on the university campus three strangers drawn tales grabs of an era and took her to a.